User-interfaces are well in the field of man-machine interaction. A user-interface of a system, e.g., an appliance, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, etc., is designed to enable a human being to operate or control the system in operational use, or to configure the system for operational use. The term “system”, as used throughout this text, is meant to cover equipment for industrial or professional application, equipment for office or business application, medical equipment, equipment for domestic application, consumer electronics equipment, etc.
A particular type of user-interface is a contactless user-interface, whose operation is based on the detection of a motion or movement of the user who is not in haptic contact with the contactless user-interface. Examples of such a contactless user-interface, known in the art, are a gesture-based user-interface and a motion-tracking user-interface.
A gesture-based user-interface interprets human gestures that originate from any bodily motion, typically from the face of the user or a hand of the user. See, e.g., US patent application publication 20030095154 “Method and Apparatus for a Gesture-based User-interface”, US patent application publication 20070124694 “Gesture to Define Location, Size, and/or Content of Content Window on a Display”, US patent application publication 20080253519 “Automatic Control of a Medical Device”, US patent application publication 20100162177 “Interactive Entertainment System and Method of Operation thereof”, all assigned to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., and incorporated herein by reference.
A motion-tracking user-interface tracks the movement of an object, e.g., the user's head or a stylus held in the user's hand. The motion-tracking user-interface translates the movement of the object to a movement of a pointer displayed on the screen of a display monitor and interprets the presence of the pointer within a specific zone of the screen as a specific command. See, e.g., US patent application publication 20090153474 “Motion Tracking User Interface”, Assigned to Apple, Inc., and incorporated herein by reference.
Operation of a contactless user-interface, whose operation is based on the detection of a motion or movement of the user, is typically based on pattern-recognition of the user-input captured by, e.g., one or more video cameras, one or more optical sensors, or one or more ultrasound sensors.
Contactless user-interfaces do not require physical contact between the user and a surface of the contactless user-interface. As a result, a contactless user-interface is less prone to wear, to being physically damaged, or to accumulating dirt at the surface, than are user-interfaces that do require a physical contact between the user and the surface. A contactless user-interface is also more hygienic from the operator's point of view as physical contact is not required.